Checking/ Clarifying for IELTS (English names)

Checking/ Clarifying

Student A

Warmer

Choose one of the countries you know best or are most interested in and spell the place names for your partner as quickly as possible. You cannot look at what your partner is writing. The first team with all the names written with no mistakes is the winner.

Difficult Australian place names to spell

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Melbourne

Kalgoorlie

Adelaide

Whitsunday Islands

Byron Bay

Hobart

Ayers Rock

Difficult British place names to spell

Loch Ness

Birmingham

The Midlands

Leicester Square

Llandudno

Loughborough

Edinburgh

Blenheim Palace

Difficult British place names to spell Part B

Piccadilly Circus

Carlisle

Dumfries

Norwich

Caernarfon

Worcester

Taunton

Omagh

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Student B

Warmer

Choose one of the countries you know best or are most interested in and spell the place names for your partner as quickly as possible. You cannot look at what your partner is writing. The first team with all the names written with no mistakes is the winner.

Difficult Australian place names to spell

Broome

Port Macquarie

Adelaide

Derby

Meekatharra

Roebourne

Cape Leeuwin

Mount Kosciuszko

Difficult New Zealand place names to spell

Auckland

Whangarei

Thames

New Plymouth

Franz Josef

Blenheim

Stewart Island

Napier

Difficult British place names to spell

Eastbourne

Bournemouth

Southwark

Earl’s Court

the Isle of Man

Salisbury Cathedral

Durham Cathedral

London Dungeons

Checking Understanding Functional Language

To complete the task above, just like making sure you understand the questions the IELTS examiner asks you, you will need to use phrases to check your understanding. Write useful phrases for this in the box on the left.

Phrases for the person being explained to

Phrases for the person explaining

The examiner might also check that you understand. Write phrases they can use in the box on the right.

Put these phrases into the boxes above:

Do you know what I mean?

Can you repeat the last part?

Have I explained myself properly?

Do you see now?

Let me just check if I understand…

Is that clear (now)?

Can you explain that using different words?

I’m lost.

Did you say…?

Got it?

What does the word “…” mean?

Can you spell the first word for me please?

Sorry. Do you mean…?

Are you sure you understand?

Are you following me?

Can you say that again more slowly?

Sorry, I’m not following you.

You’ve lost me.

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Extras

Student A

Difficult Australian place names to spell

Cairns

Maroochydore

Leigh Creek

Perth

Warrnambool

Launceston

Difficult to Spell Famous British People

Sean Connery

Margaret Thatcher

Louis Theroux

Prince Charles

The Duke of Edinburgh

Sacha Baron Cohen

Henry Purcell

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Sir Isaac Newton

Horatio Nelson

Guy Fawkes

King Henry VIII

Common misspellings in the IELTS test/ Academic English

affect/ effect

government

receive

advertisement

accommodation

Extras

Student B

Difficult to Spell Famous British People

Florence Nightingale

David Attenborough

J.R.R Tolkien

Agatha Christie

John Logie Baird

King Arthur

Difficult to Spell Famous Australian People

Shane Warne

Steve Irwin

Harry Kewell

Kylie Minogue

Danni Minogue

Ian Thorpe

Kyle Sandilands

Evonne Goolagong Cawley

Dame Joan Sutherland

Guy Pearce

Steve Waugh

Difficult American place names

Cincinnati

Massachusetts

Mississippi

Philadelphia

Memphis

Common misspellings in the IELTS test/ Academic English

loose/ lose

college/ colleague

quite/ quiet

through/ thorough

breath/ breathe

Further Practice activities

Give instructions for how to get somewhere from the place where you are sitting now. Your partner should guess where you end up

Using an underground map, rail map or street map, give your partner instructions without using the name of any of the lines or the stations you change at and see if they can understand where the final place is.